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Copper thieves, sometimes acting as "organized groups," are threatening what the FBI said is "critical" U.S. infrastructure, from electrical sub-stations, cellular towers, telephone land lines to railroads and crops, the agency said in an unclassified report unveiled Wednesday.

The report, Copper Thefts Threaten US Critical Infrastructure, said bandits are taking advantage of unprecedented high prices for copper, an almost 500 percent increase since 2001 as measured earlier this year.

But perhaps market forces can stop crimes that law enforcement officials cannot.

The FBI publicized the unclassified report the same day stocks of global mining concerns were battered as operations worldwide gear up for a 50 percent reduction in copper prices. Shares of Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, the world's largest copper supplier, plummeted nearly 20 percent Wednesday as the company suspended dividends, cut spending and scaled back copper production to adjust to weakening demand amid a global economic slump.

In one instance, the bureau reported, five tornado warning sirens in Jackson, Miss., did not sound ahead of an April tornado "because copper thieves had stripped the sirens of copper wiring, thus rendering them inoperable." In another case, 4,000 Polk County, Florida residents were left without power in March "after copper wire was stripped from an active transformer" -- a $500,000 loss. Arizona farmers reported $10 million in damages last year after copper pipes were stripped from irrigation wells and pumps, resulting in crop failures.

At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that news is not something that happens to other people. ~ Robert Heinlein

In Detroit, scrap metal dealers can now only pay for salvaged metals from city-licensed salvagers. This is working pretty good in some ways-as you have to pay a fee for the license, most drug addicts won't go to that extreme, and the guys who get the license are guys who are fixing up houses, or helping the city scrap abandoned homes prior to demolition.

We still have problems with people stealing materials from construction sights and reselling the items illegally, but I don't think it's the junkies and crackheads doing that.